Resident Costume Designer: Trey Alexander
As the excitement to our Holiday show begins (WE ARE TWO WEEKS AWAY!!!) I thought what better way to make it all come together than to introduce you to the multiple elements and collaborations we have involved.
For not only "Lamentations for Peace" but for almost all of our shows and repertoire pieces, Trey Alexander is our costume designer. Trey collaborates with the choreographers to help progress their vision and conceptualize an outfit or design that encompasses the feeling or story the choreographer is going for.
For "Lamentations for Peace" in particular, Trey has had the difficult task of creating a vintage-styled world amongst making each of us into multiple characters within one 75-minute show. There are multiple scenes that all have different feels - one is dark and mysterious while another scene is hopeful and full of angelic characters. For this show, I feel like Trey has over 90 costumes to manage. This includes us dancers, the children's cast, and our child star - Peter.
Speaking of these other elements, our Holiday show includes many layers. As just previously mentioned - Hyde Park School of Dance's training company dancers are involved in the show as well as a 7-year old boy who plays the lead - Peter Westergaard. In addition, there are loads of costumes by Trey, tons of props that fill the stage and set the scene, AND the Bourne singers which is a group of 9 beautiful live singers that make our music sound so beautiful I can hardly handle it.
There's something for EVERYONE in this show - singing, dancing, acting, Holiday cheer, and so much more!! You don't want to miss it December 6 & 7 at the Dance Center at Colombia College.
Lamentations for Peace - A World Premiere Holiday Show
Officially announced and out in the world - "Lamentations for Peace" is an evening length Holiday themed show choreographed by Kia S. Smith premiering on December 6 and 7th at the Dance Center at Colombia College!
JOIN US for an evening/afternoon of fun, festivities, and a moving Holiday-themed show. The show not only amps up the Holiday spirit and gets audience's ready for the Season, but is a tale of hardships and community during the Holidays. Extra exciting for us is that we are including a children's cast from Hyde Park School of Dance's Training Company as well as a featured child soloist - Peter Westergaard (age 7). It's sure to be a night you won't forget with Holiday sets, choreography, songs, and joyous sprits!
This choreographic process has been one of joy and anticipation leading up to the month of December. Personally, I've decorated earlier for the Holidays than ever before simply due to the fact that we've been rehearsing to Holiday music since August! I'm ready for the Season, but most importantly...I'm ready to share the show with you all!
The show really highlights the versatility of SCDT as dancers - it includes high energy jazz moments, beautiful partnering, and angelic and controlled contemporary. We have it all for you wrapped up in a bow!
We hope you come to the show and enjoy every moment as we lead audience's into the Holiday Spirit! You can get tickets at: https://dance.colum.edu/events/2025/12/6/south-chicago-dance-theatre
We can't wait to see you there....HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
The Most Wonderful time of the Year - HALLOWEEN!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year….I mean YES we are preparing for our Holiday show, but I’m talking about HALLOWEEN! South Chicago dancers take this Holiday quite seriously and each year brings its own tricks and treats.
For example, last year is one we will NEVER forget. After a prank two years back where all of us dancers dressed up as Kia for Halloween, Kia got us back. She went full out and dressed up as the famous Abby Lee Miller, a notoriously harsh children’s dance teacher who has a reality show. Kia jokingly did a whole skit as Abby Lee herself – it had us dancers laughing for a full ten minutes straight.
This year, we aren’t backing down. In fact, we’ve expanded and created a whole entire Halloween Spirit Week. Tuesday is Pajama Day, Wednesday we all have randomly assigned twins, Thursday is SCDT costume day (where we each try to recreate a SCDT costume from our closet), and Friday is Halloween costumes!!
Stay tuned to see the creativity that is our company – YES – we love to have fun and there’s all a little bit of inner child left in each one of us. More stories, more pictures, and more creativity to be shared. For now…Happy Spirit Week from SCDT!
Show Mode & Recovery Mode
As performers we are constantly in action - so much is required of us. From remembering choreography, working well with our peers, being on our feet all day, and pushing our stamina, flexibility, and athleticism to the max.
It's a job I love like no other, but it comes with its hardships like no other. It's so important that we take care of ourselves on and off the dance floor. I'll always say that my co-workers keep me going, but I'd be remiss if I also didn't mention the following recovery techniques that most of us keep in our back pocket.
1. Rolling out/massage therapy: our muscles grow tense and are put through the ringer from day to day. Using foam rollers, lacrosse balls, and getting regular massages are a must for loosening tension and alleviating pain.
2. Hot/Cold therapy: We dancers usually heat to prepare our muscles and ice at the end of the day to reduce swelling. I've done sauna and cold plunges on the weekends, too, as extra hot/cold remedy. It releases muscle tension SO well.
3. HYDRATE: I think every single one of us on the company has at least 2 or 3 refills of our water each day. In addition, each of us have our favorite form of electrolyte that we mix with our water.
4. Stretch: There's nothing like the feeling of a good low-effort release stretch. When I get home at night, I love laying down to my favorite TV show and just stretching my low back and/or hamstrings.
5. Mental reset: Dance is as much mental as it is physical. Enjoying time away from the dance studio alone, with friends, or with family is one of my favorite ways to rejuvenate and relax so I'm fresh when I return to rehearsal.
Guest Teachers Galore!
The life of a Dance Company Member is quite different than others in a multitude of ways. One of my favorite ways is that we actually have to "warm-up" for our job. It's a quintessential part of our day - a 75-minute dance class that gets our blood pumping, muscles warm and active, and flexibility on.
In seasons' past we've had incredible line ups of guest teachers, including the wonderful Patti Eylar, Tracey Franklin, Craig Black, and so many more!
The most exciting part of Season 9's warmup classes, in my opinion, is that every Tuesday we now have a rotating guest instructor! Each week someone new enters the space to give us warm-up class and I think it allows us to learn from as many perspectives as possible, broaden our training, and meet more of the community!
A couple of highlights from this season include:
Class with Homer Bryant. Homer is an essential part of Chicago Dance and he teaches an incredibly challenging Floor Barre class. We lay down and focus on ballet technique foundational skills at a granular level. It's SO humbling and the push for technique we need.
Countertechnique classes with our own Faith von Atzigen! Faith was recently certified as a Countertechnique instructor and her amazing class allows us to approach movement in a visual and abstract way. I've been thinking about my body and movement so differently since we've had class together.
Contemporary with Kara Brody. Kara's Contemporary is release based. It's a gorgeous compliment to all of our athletic repertoire we have - her class reminds me when to breathe, save my energy, and rely on my body's momentum and natural patterns.
MORE TO COME! Throughout the season we have more guest teachers arriving in the space and I'm so thrilled to learn from more of them. It makes our day feel sort of like a dance intensive where you are soaking up information from all different instructors! Super informative and I'm so grateful to SCDT for providing us with so many avenues of training.
Chicago LIVE! 2025
It's become somewhat of an annual tradition for us now - Chicago LIVE! at Navy Pier! Each September SCDT looks forward to a 20-minute performance slot alongside all the talented dance companies in the Chicago Dance Community. It's a full day of dance and community as we watch, support, and perform at this yearly event!
At the very end of Navy Pier, tourists, fans, family and friends - anyone who is willing to pause and watch dance - has a free ticket to see Chicago's dancers! We've been participating for the past five years in this event and it's always so wonderful to see friends from the community show up and cheer us on.
This particular year, we performed "On a Lark" by Stephanie Martinez as well as "Soul Power" by Monique Haley. Both are energizing and entertaining routines, sure to make a tourist stop and get excited about the arts!
I truly believe that is the coolest thing about this event. Often times, performances can be pricey and not as reachable to all audiences. If you can get yourself to Navy Pier, you can have a full day of viewing professional dance for free. It's events like these that bring the joy of sharing dance with others. For someone walking by, it could be their first time ever seeing concert dance - how special is that that we can share our passion with them when they were least expecting it?
Chicago LIVE! is not only one of the most community-centered events of our year, but it is also our favorite opportunity as a Company to hang out afterwards! It's our yearly tradition to find a spot for food after the show that us dancers can bond with each other and with family or friends that came to the show as well! It's our "hard-launch" into a fantastic season.
Governor's State Preview
One of our first full Repertoire shows of the year is almost HERE! Join us on Saturday, September 27 at 7:30pm at Governor's State University for an evening you're sure to love!
We still have two weeks to go until the show, but I thought I'd give you the "sneak peek" of the pieces we plan to perform. Some are recent, some are old favorites, but it's sure to make a jam-packed show that, of course, you don't want to miss!
ON A LARK by Stephanie Martinez
If you haven't seen this upbeat, fan-favorite, we are bringing it back! Exploring themes of everyday monotony in the show-business lifestyle and investigating whether it's all as "glamorous" as it seems, Martinez's work captures audience's attention with it's familiar soundtrack and humorous choreography. It's one of my all-time favorites to perform because of the characters attached to it.
SOUL POWER by Monique Haley
This athletic and West-African rooted jazz piece is so signature to our repertoire. It showcases each dancer individually while featuring a couple dynamic group sections that highlight the energy and power behind South Chicago Dance Theatre.
UNDER THE SKIN by Tsai Hsi Hung
One of our most repeated rep routines because of the agility, athleticism, and overall wow-factor. This piece is INSANE for lack of a better word. How each dancer connects through movement at such a fast-paced rate is crazy and sure to be a joy to watch.
IN/WITHIN by Kia S. Smith
Only premiering just earlier this year, this is our half-evening length work rooted in surrealism. Our founder and Director of Vision and Strategy choreographed this piece including set design, props, quirky music and movement, spoken word, and tons of character. It stands alone in the second act and creates a world for audience's to get lost in.
AAAAAND....that's our show! It's a big one and we can't wait to put it all out on the GSU stage! See you September 27!!
The Holidays Arrive Early!
I'm so excited to enlighten you all on the couple of performances we have in September - but FIRST, we have a brand new and SUPER exciting announcement and project we've been working on...
THE HOLIDAYS ARE HERE!
Okay, maybe not actually, but in the four walls of our studio that we rehearse at, it's full of Holiday cheer already! For the first time in our nine seasons of existence, we are premiering a Holiday Show titled "Lamentations of Peace". If you go to check out tickets on the Dance Center at Colombia College's event page, we are already up and running!
What a joy it is to have something so wonderful in store for our audience! Sure, it's strange to be listening to Holiday music at the top of September already, but I know what an amazing treat it will be for our audience to be entertained by this evening-length performance.
Often times in dance, we perform to educate or to make a bold statement. One of my favorite reasons for presenting dance, though, is for pure entertainment! It's truly what connects the art world with everyday people. People feel welcomed into the entertaining world of music and dance and may sprout a new and unknown interest for the art form simply because they felt entertained by it.
Have you ever watched a Superbowl Halftime show and been in awe of the dancers? Or maybe been to a concert and surprised by the stamina and skill of the back-up performers? That right there is entertainment and opened a window to a beautiful world of art.
It is my hope that "Lamentations for Peace" brings together an audience full of Holiday joy that becomes interested in our work and devotion to dance. It's a family friendly show and one that is sure to leave you in the Holiday Spirit!
Don't worry, it's still 3 months away, but I'm already feeling the Holiday Joy and couldn't wait to share it with you! More updates to come and a Merry September to you all!!
Dance For Life 2025
What a night to remember!
South Chicago Dance Theatre had the privilege of gracing the stage for Chicago Dancer Health Fund's annual event - Dance for Life. If you've never attended Dance for Life (DFL) it is the most wonderful way to support an amazing cause while also experiencing a taste of all different Chicago Dance Companies.
Each year, Chicago Dancer Health Fund puts on this event to raise money for dancers in need of medical attention and financial help. Many dancers on our company have utilized this funding to help with procedures and/or physical therapy. The event includes a performance and an after party to help raise awareness and funds. This years' performance included 11 dances - ten Chicago dance companies alongside a beautiful finale choreographed by Johnathan Alsberry including upwards of 50+ Chicago dancers!
SCDT performed Frank Chavez's "Temporal Trance" for the entire community and it was so well received. This is our company's third time being a part of DFL. The energy of this night is unlike any other - you are sure to see everyone you could possibly imagine in the Chicago Dance Community as it is one of the biggest nights for dance.
A big thanks to Chicago Dance Health Fund as well as our Chicago Dance Family for embracing SCDT and allowing us to enjoy this moment on the Auditorium Theatre stage! What a wonderful way to kick off our 9th Season.
Welcome to Season 9!
photo by: Michelle Reid
HELLO SCDT FANS! It's hard to believe, but we have officially kicked off Season 9 of South Chicago Dance Theatre.
That marks SIX full seasons that I have danced as a Company Member with SCDT and SIX seasons of gracing your presence on the Blog!
I'm back again this year with more excitement, so many tours to chat about, exciting opportunities that we have, and of course giving you the low-down on all things dance and all things South Chicago Dance Theatre!
Just this week - beginning on August 4 - 16 members of SCDT joined in Hyde Park to start the season right! A full orientation day for staff, Emerging Artists, Associate Artists, and all Company Members was had followed by a picnic by the lake.
Per usual, we are so privileged to have such a great community and culture and happy to welcome 2 new dancers to the family - Tonei Silver and Maya Finman-Palmer.
We've already started rehearsing for a full first week and are looking forward to our first performance in Dance for Life at the Auditorium Theatre on August 16.
Here's to another incredible Season - stay tuned for all the excitement!
-Kelly Anderson